1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to management apparatus, management method and computer-readable medium. The present invention relates to a technique of managing a device on a network and, more particularly, to a technique of managing authentication information when managing a device using SNMP.
2. Description of the Related Art
Management software for managing an image forming apparatus (to be referred to as a device hereinafter) such as a printer conventionally uses SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) as the communication protocol. The management software acquires information necessary for device management using the SNMP. At this time, the management software manages SNMP authentication information (including a community name in SNMP version 1) to be used to acquire information from a device. A related art for managing the authentication information is disclosed in which appropriate authentication information is determined from a plurality of candidates in accordance with the type of the management target device (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-110261).
On the other hand, as the management software, there exist software to be used by the system administrator to confirm the operation state of a device and software to be used by an external serviceman undertaking maintenance to do management for device repair or part delivery from a remote site. To cope with the different purposes, plug-in software exists which is used to add a function for a different purpose to a piece of management software or extend its function. The device on the network is assumed to be managed in accordance with each purpose using the plug-in software.
However, the related art does not assume a method of managing authentication information for each of the pieces of software of different management purposes. In, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-110261, each of management software and plug-in software manages authentication information of a device. This related art does not assume a method of allowing the plug-in software to use the authentication information managed in the management software at all.